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Sometimes love takes you by the hand and leads you to run through fields of flowers while butterflies weave you a dress out of rainbows. Other times, love takes you by the throat and chokes you until all you see is the bright, sharp trail of shooting stars right before everything turns to black. The problem is, you can never tell in advance which way the story ends, not until you’re too far into it, and you have no choice but to keep turning the pages.

4 stars

I love Megan Hart. I love the way she writes. The way she doesn’t sugarcoat any of the stories she tells.

The heroine, Elise, is a very sexual character. She has certain tastes that most of us aren’t used to but she enjoys. Some of the things she enjoys I would never think about doing. Yeah, it’s out there!

All in all I thought this was a good read. In my opinion Elise cried too much. It was a little bit of a put off for me but other than that, I enjoyed the story. The other characters were great as well. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to read it.

**ARC graciously provided by Harlequin via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

BOOK: UNTIL THERE WAS YOU

AUTHOR: KRISTAN HIGGINS

PUBLISHER: HARLEQUIN

BOOK BLURB:

Posey Osterhagen can’t complain. She owns a successful architectural salvaging company, she’s surrounded by her lovable, if off-center, family and she has a boyfriend—sort of. Still, something’s missing. Something tall, brooding and criminally good-looking—something like Liam Murphy.

When Posey was sixteen, the bad boy of Bellsford, New Hampshire, broke her heart. But now he’s back, sending Posey’s traitorous schoolgirl heart into overdrive once again. She should be giving him a wide berth, but it seems fate has other ideas.

My rating: 2 stars

I usually love Kristan Higgins’ books. But not this one. Nope. Not even close. I’m definitely not one of those people who gave this one 4 or 5 stars. There’s no way. It was a total snooze fest. It was boring, the characters lacked everything characters could lack, and I was constantly thinking, “Seriously? This got published?”

I know, I know…this is a harsh review. But I’m very blunt and to the point. It was horrible. The only reason I didn’t give the book 1 star is because of the humor that’s throughout the story.

I’m very disappointed with this one. How it has such high ratings is beyond me. I found it boring and dismal.

I’ve never read a book by Kristan Higgins that I didn’t like.I simply LOVE this one. SOMEBODY TO LOVE made me get all teary eyed at the end and by the time I read the epilogue I had a few tears running down my cheeks. I’m such a sucker for a great romance.This is definitely one.

This book is pretty long.It’s about 425 pages or so.It’s every bit worth the read. Ms. Higgins does a fabulous job letting you get to know the characters and how they interact with each other.I found myself laughing so much at what would come out of their mouths.

Here are some of my favorite quotes in the book:

…………………………………………………………..

Parker ripped off the jeans, dimly hearing herself shrieking, and ran out of the house, through the grass and right up onto the hood of her car. “Bugger! Bugger! Jeesh!” she yelped.Her jeans were clutched in her hand.What if there were more in there? What if a whole family of rodents was in her jeans right now? She whipped the pants against the car, cracking them against the hood again and again and again, shrieking at the remembered feeling of tiny claws.On her leg. Her skin.On her ass!

“Hey, Parker” came a voice.She kept cracking.

“Parker?”

She looked up, her breath stuttering in and out of her chest.

Thing One.Thing One was here.

“Hi,” he said, as if she wasn’t murdering her jeans against the hood.“How’s it going?”

“There was a mouse in my pants.”

He raised an eyebrow and smiled.“Lucky mouse.”

…………………………………………….

“So you got this? You can hold down the fort and all?”

“Sure, Vin.You go. Have a great time,” Parker smiled at her cousin.She couldn’t wait till Vin was gone so she could start cleaning.The shop was filthy.

“Thanks. ‘Cause I haven’t been laid in God knows how long.” She sighed. “That’s where I’m going. A sex date.And I cannot wait.”

“Thanks for sharing.”

“This guy? Knows what he’s doing,” her cousin continued, squinting appreciatively as she took a long drag on her cigarette, her face contouring into a sea of wrinkles. “Some men, it’s just in and out, right? Nawt him.”

“That’s… that’s great.”

“Does this little circly thing.Makes me crazy.” Lavinia stubbed the cigarette out on her palm, then fished her bra strap from where it had slid down her crepey, mole-encrusted arm.“He might be hairy, God knows, but once you get used to the friction, it’s all good.”

Parker had never thought of herself as a prude, nope, but damn if she didn’t throw up in her mouth a little bit.

“Well, then.Maybe you should get going.Um, traffic and all that.” Yes. That fabled traffic of Gideon’s Cove, Maine, where once in a while you had to wait four or five seconds to make a left-hand turn onto Elm Street.

“Good point, kid.” Lavinia punched Parker on the arm fondly. “Have a good day. And thanks.I’m off to have my orgasms.”

………………………………………………..

She went blithely into the house.James continued jamming the crowbar under the shingles, relishing the screech as they tore off.

Then her words sank in.

She couldn’t swim in Maine water.It was practically ice-cold.Fifty-two, fifty-five degrees? Maybe?It was high tide, too, so it’d be even colder.he tossed down the pry bar and stomped inside, folded his arms across his sweaty T-shirt and stood outside her door, ready to lecture her.

The the door opened, and he forgot what he was there for.

She was wearing a bikini.

“You want to come?” she asked.

His mouth opened, but no sound came out.Skin. There was a lot of skin.And…curves.Breasts.Shoulder.Legs.His mouth went dry.She gave him an odd look, the scooped up her hair and secured it with an elastic, and his eyes slid down to her rack, because my God, that was a fantastic-

“I know. Cellulite.I’ve gained eleven pounds this past year.” She stared down at her torso, then sighed.“Oh, well.Maybe I can swim some off.Come on, Beauty.” She grabbed a towel and headed through the kitchen.

Her ass was…well, he was unable to summon actual words at the moment, as there was no blood flowing upward.And that scrap of fabric-red fabric- thank you, Jesus.Hard to believe she’d kissed him once, and speaking of hard, she was so beautiful and perfect and luscious, bad enough that he’d had to listen to her shower every morning, and-

But wait, wait, wait.

She couldn’t swim in that water.

…………………………………………….

Lucy looked at her hand for a minute, and twisted her wedding ring.“It’s just that sometimes, the right guy seems really wrong.And sometimes, it’s easier to grab hold of an excuse, because really going for it, putting yourself out there… that’s hard.You know that.You saw me through that last year.”

Parker conceded the point with a nod.

“So, welcome to the world, Parker.Loving someone can be terrifying.” She set her glass down gently.“And it’s worth it.”

…………………………………………….

Please, please give this a read if you like Contemporary Romance.You’ll find yourself smiling and laughing throughout the story.Really.It’s that good.

Brava, Ms. Higgins!And thank you for making my heart smile with this story.It is such delight.

I give this book 3 stars. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. It was just ok.

I thought the story started off pretty strong and it held my attention and then I started losing interest in it. The story seemed to drag on and on.I thought the plot had potential but the story didn’t turn out quite like I thought it would. I guess I just wish it had had a different ending.

**ARC graciously provided by Harlequin via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

The plot was okay. Not anything real exciting but not boring either. I think the beginning of the story was good. I really liked how the hero and heroine met. I feel like around the middle of the story is where it started to slack somewhat. Then, near the end, I found it pleasant again. All in all it was a nice love story. I love anything Highlander so it was right up my alley.

Lucy, the heroine, is a strong-willed female ( like most all heroines) and she’s likable. I did not like the club that she was a member of and I was also disappointed when I learned her twin had passed away.
Robert is the hero in this book. He’s a good character. He has his own demons that he has to face. I enjoyed the banter between him and Lucy & found I liked his character more than I did hers.

I look forward to the next book. I loved reading about Jack in this book so I cannot wait to hear his story in “One Night With a Laird” (November 2013).

***ARC graciously provided by Harlequin via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***